Heading South with The Enemy Line

Duo with local roots moving forward on road to success

by Tina Cole-Mullins

It’s going to be a busy summer for The Enemy Line, a local brother and sister duo whose music runs deep with traditional old-school country. The team of Kymee Dawn and Kurt Stone plans to release a new single, play both group and single performances and prepare for an upcoming tour.

All this comes after The Enemy Line was named the Avis Radio 2020 Independent Artist of the Year in 2020, and selected as one of Country Music Canada Magazine’s “Who to Watch in 2021.”

SCN readers first were introduced to the duo a little more than a year ago, when I interviewed the group for an article. But some area residents needed no introduction

The early days

“I remember Kurt and Kymee coming into Wrangler’s in Howell with their dad, Jimmy,” said John Anthony, guitarist for Storm Bandits and formerly Legends, a local band around the area for many decades. “Kurt had just started with his dad’s band, setting up for the weekend. More of a country bar then, he started crankin’ out a few rock leads for some of his friends and I thought ‘who is this young man?'”

Kurt sounded great “right off the cuff,” according to Anthony. “I knew he was a contender right away.”

When Kurt and Kymee got up to sing, Anthony saw signs that the two were something special.

“The blend of their young voices were pure as fresh-washed linen. They harmonized like my son and daughter did, which most can’t do, that’s a family thing,” Anthony said. “I think Kymee was 13, Kurt a bit older. The crowd totally loved them.”

Releasing new music

In the time since their last interview, The Enemy Line moved forward in releasing music to country radio.

“Our first release, ‘Falling Off the Barstool’ was a big success, reaching No. 1 on the new music weekly country digital charts,” Kurt said.

“‘Falling off the Barstool’ has been playing on secondary radio, which is the smaller radio stations throughout the world, as well as a lot of internet radio stations,” he said. “The song is getting played on some major stations, mainly down South.”

Their CD “Chiseled in Stone” not only gained steam this past year, but produced some quality singles. Their cover of “Chiseled in Stone” was written by the late country singer Vern Gosdin, whose wife, Ms. Beverly is currently in full management and production of The Enemy Line music.

More awards

Amid travels between Michigan and Georgia in late 2020, The Enemy Line released their second original, “Fireball,” a hard-rocking country anthem for fed-up good women. The video of the song was the group’s first. It was filmed in the local backwoods, produced by Ryan Hudson and Shane Pitman of 1887 media.

In the meantime, The Enemy Line keeps piling up awards. The “Fireball” video earned the video of the year honor and Kymee Dawn was selected female vocalist of the year by The Rampage Music Awards 2022.

Drawn to the South

While the focus of country music is in the South, Kurt still lives in the area and commutes back and forth. Kymee and her family, however, made the move to Tennessee last summer.
But the move was not musically motivated,  but one of heart and necessity. The family needed to be near the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital so their daughter Gray could undergo brain surgery and receive ongoing cancer treatment.

Kymee Dawn juggled working interviews in Nashville with emergency room visits, a sick child and keeping life active for her other three children: Lyric, Harmony and Rowan. Now with Gray’s treatment showing the marked and positive results of a shrinking tumor, the duo can continue to move forward in their career.

New song coming this month

At a recent performance at The Wooden Nickel in Dansville, The Enemy Line announced they wil be releasing an undisclosed song this month.

“This next song will be promoted to the Billboard indicator, meaning a better chance of hitting mainstream radio. We will be hosting a singles release party in Nashville, Tennessee, which is also during CMA Fest, ” Kurt said. “It is being put together through MC1, an independent record label in Nashville. Although we did not sign with the label as an artist, we did make a radio promotion and release deal.”

Michigan roots

Kurt still plays solo performances in the area and can often be found many Wednesday evenings at The Wooden Nickel in Dansville. Kymee continues to represent the duo in Nashville meetings and performs occasional solo shows.

Fans can follow the group on its The Enemy Line Facebook page to stay current on information and performance dates. You also can find The Enemy Line and subscribe on YouTube.

“We are getting ready to ramp up for a tour hopefully very soon. This summer is going to be busy,” Kurt added.

“We will always be performing in Michigan at one point or another,” he said. “This is our home and we absolutely love performing for our fans.”

Author’s Note: For more of Gray’s story, follow her at “Pray for Gray” on Facebook

Follow Gray’s story on Facebook (@Pray for Gray). Photo from Facebook

Gray as she started treatment at St. Jude in 2021. Photo from Facebook

Acoustic show at The Wooden Nickel in Dansville. Photo credit Sandy Long

Kymee Dawn with their Rampage Music Awards 2022. Photo from Facebook

Kymee Dawn and Kurt Stone of The Enemy Line. Photo from Facebook

Kymee Dawn and Kurt Stone paying homage to the late Vern Gosdin, singing Chiseled in Stone. Photo from Facebook

A young Kymee Dawn and dad Jimmy. Photo from Facebook